ENRICHING VOCABULARY THROUGH TOTAL PHYSICAL

RESPONSE (TPR) FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

Nafkhatul Miskiyah, Taranindya Zulhi Amalia

English Education Department of IAIN Kudus

ABSTRACT
Vocabulary is an aspect that needs to be emphasized in learning English at the elementary
school level because vocab is the basis of a language. The background of this research is
students feel difficulty when understanding English material and quickly forget when
memorizing vocabulary in English because of lack of enthusiastic learning. The purpose
of this study is to describe the process of implementing learning using the Total Physical
Response method to make easier to understand the vocabulary and how the responses
from students and teacher after using this method. The research design used by the writer
is descriptive qualitative method with observation and interview. The subjects of this
study were 22 students in the fourth grade of MI Robayan. The writer covered the TPR
method with picture cards and a song in the teaching and learning process. The results
showed that with the TPR method students becomes easier to understand and remember
vocabulary in English because they practice it physically and verbally. TPR Method
Makes them feel comfortable and enjoy when learning, and motivates them to be more
active in learning English.

Keywords: Vocabulary, Method, Total Physical Response, Young Learners

INTRODUCTION

Learning foreign languages early has important benefit for our future. Nowadays,
there are many needs in daily life that require English. Examples such as expressed by
Istiqomah in Sariyati (2013, p. 51) English is not only for academic but is also available
in everywhere and even Nunan requires that someone must have English language skills,
especially a worker in business, industry and government. Therefore, it is important to
teach English children from an early age to prepare their future.
English in Indonesia began to be taught to young learners at elementary school
level. Scott & Ytreberg (1993) said that young leaners are children aged 5-12 years who
have characteristics that cover their behavior, mind, and aptitude (Bahtiar, 2017, p. 11).
Teaching English in elementary school does not only focus on four aspects, such as
speaking, listening, writing, and reading. It is also supported by other language
components, such as pronunciation, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary (Sari, 2015, p. 4)
Vocabulary is an aspect that needs to be emphasized in learning English at the
elementary school level because vocab is the basis of a language. Along with Adam
Robinson in Bahtiar (2017, p. 9) vocabulary is a basis for thinking and exchanging
information in order to bring the world closer. It means that vocabulary plays an
important role in learning language. With a lot of vocabulary, students will be easier to
express their ideas and feelings verbally or in writing. In line with this, Thornbury,
(2002) said that students can still pronounce short messages without learning grammar,
but students will have difficulties and it is almost impossible to convey the message well
if they do not master the vocabulary. That is the importance of learning vocabularies for
young learners.
In fact, teaching English as a foreign language to young learners has its own
challenges. The process of learning and teaching English does not always work well for
them (Sariyati, 2013, p. 51). Rokhayani (2017, p. 76) says that young learners or children
can have fears for school, so teacher need to build a pleasant classroom atmosphere. In
addition English is something new for them, so in introducing and teaching it requires an
interesting teaching method so that they can enjoy the learning process.
In reality, there are still many students who do not like English and consider
learning English difficult. The same thing happened in MI Robayan. Some students
claimed that they did not like English because many tasks were given, they do not
understand about the material and students felt bored during learning. The teacher always
asks his students to memorize some vocabularies and then come forward one by one.
However, memorized vocabularies will quickly disappear without practice.
Based on this problem, the writer recommends using the Total Physical Response
(TPR) method that is very suitable to be applied at the elementary school level. In line
with Brown (2007) who said that TPR is a learning method for beginner students. TPR
is a teaching technique through listening and carrying out instructions or commands (Ulfa
& Salimah, 2016, p. 103). Furthermore, Asher in Suniati (2015, p. 99) also explained that
TPR is a method that implements speech and action coordination for language teaching.
In conclusion, the TPR method is applied with the teacher giving instructions or
commands to students such as walk, run, sit down then students will follow the order
physically. This method can also be covered with images, songs, games, and so on.
The TPR method is very appropriate and effective to be applied to young learners.
Based on the results of previous studies from Yuyun Bahtiar (2017, p. 21), Safitri et al.,
(2017, p. 6) and Fahrurrozi (2017, p. 118), they agreed that the TPR method can make it
easier to understand the purpose of the vocabulary and make students enjoy learning in
the classroom. Students can also reduce stress during learning and enthusiasm when
learning takes place, so that it can encourage student motivation in learning to get the
best results.
Based on some of the descriptions above, the writer hopes that using the TPR
method can help students in learning and make it easier to memorize vocabularies. The
purpose of this study the writer wants to describe the process of implementing learning
using the Total Physical Response method to make easier to understand the vocabulary
and how the responses from students and teacher after using this method. Therefore, the
writer conducted a study entitled "Teaching Vocabulary by Using Total Physical
Response for Young Learners."

QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY

This research is intended to answer these questions below:
1. How the process of implementing learning vocabulary using the total physical
response method?
2. How the responses from students and teacher after using total physical response
method?

LITERATURE REVIEW
Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary is an aspect that needs to be emphasized in learning English at the
elementary school level because vocab is the basis of a language. According to Hornby
(2003) vocabulary is maximum number of words that combine language with rules.
Pujiningsih (2010, p. 11) noted that vocabulary is word combined by sentence or
discourse to express ideas.
Young learner is children that age of five to twelve. They learn differently from
children at the high level. When learning process they more excited, energetic, and very
curious to know everything, even they do not understand they will go on an activity.
However, they also lost interest quickly (Cameron, 2002, p. 1). Therefore, teacher should
pay attention when teaching English. Teacher must choose and adapt certain curriculum-
based teaching technique and media that are relevant to the students. Nation in
Pujiningsih (2010, p. 13) described basic techniques that teachers can use to explain
vocabulary:
1. By demonstration or pictures, such as using an image, gesture, expression,
photograph, drawing, and so on.
2. By verbal explanation, such as analytical meaning, translating the new word
into a given context.
Nation also added the good techniques in teaching vocabulary have to attract the
students, make the students pay attention to the context, and provide the opportunity for
repetition. According to Wallace (2002, p. 27) there are six principles on which to base
teaching vocabulary:
1. Purpose: the teacher must be explicit about the purposes of the teaching-
learning process itself.
2. Quantity: the teacher needs to decide how many vocabularies to learnt.
3. Need: the teacher should choose the words that students really need.
4. Frequent learning and exposure: not only once when teacher teach new
vocabulary, but they have to repeat to make sure the students have already
understood.
5. Meaningful presentation: the students must have a clear and specific
understanding of what it applies
 6. Situation presentation: word choice can very depending on the situation we are
talking to and vice versa. So that, students must learn vocabulary in appropriate
circumstances.

Total Physical Response

Total physical response is a method that introduced by James Asher. This method
related to physical movement. TPR is a teaching technique through listening and carrying
out instructions or commands (Ulfa & Salimah, 2016, p. 103). Richard and Rodgers in
Octaviany (2007, p. 15) claim that TPR is a form of language teaching based on language
synchronization, which attempts physical activity to teach language. In conclusion, the
TPR method is applied with the teacher giving instructions or commands to students, then
students will follow the order physically.
Total physical response has been designed to enhance the outcomes of the new
language teaching process. Larsen stated that TPR was developed to reduce the stress
students in learning English thus encourage students to succeed their level of skills
(Larsen & Freeman, 2000, p.113). As for the purpose of using TPR Method are:
1. Oral instruction at the star level
2. The use of language as a method of communicating
3. Using the imperative action-based exercise.
The students will use their body when studying using TPR method. So, they can
understand the meaning of the vocabulary quickly. The students will not feel discouraged
and feel successful in learning English. The advantages of teaching English using TPR
method the followings are (Rokhayani, 2017, p. 77):
1. TPR will help students understand words and express it
2. Many students enjoy the learning because TPR is enjoyable for them
3. TPR not only for young learners, but also adult learners
4. It is possible to apply TPR in small and large class
5. TPR is suitable to active classroom students.
RESEARCH METHODOLGY
 The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. Descriptive qualitative
is used to explain the implementation of the English learning process using the total
physical response applied in the fourth grade MI Robayan Jepara and to explain the
results of the implementation using TPR method. The population of this study was 4th
grade MI Robayan in 2019 academic year, which consisted of 22 students. The writer
takes research in fourth grade because they include young learners and are ready to accept
the new environment and material to be taught.
The writer collects data using observation and interviews with English teacher and
4th grade students. Observation is used to find out how the learning process uses the TPR
method which is covered with song and pictures in the 4th grade MI Robayan and
interview is used to find out the responses from English teacher and 4th grade students
after learning using the TPR method. The steps in analyzing this data are observing,
exploring, and presenting the results.

FINDING AND DISCUSSION

The Process of Implementing Learning Vocabulary Using the Total Physical
Response Method
This study focuses on the implementation of the TPR method in class 4 MI
Robayan. The writer explores the activities of the process of teaching and learning
English using the TPR method. TPR is an appropriate and interesting method to be
applied at the elementary school level by relying on orders and actions. The writer
describes the implementation into five aspects, namely learning purposes, learning
materials, implementation, teacher’s roles, and students’ roles.
a. The Purpose of Learning Using the TPR Method in Class 4 MI Robayan
The purposes of using the learning method using the TPR in grade 4 are to help
students understand and strengthen students in memorizing vocabularies, to make
learning English fun and interesting for students in the teaching and learning process.
The teacher introduces new vocabulary to students accompanied by instructions
which will then be followed by students. This method is very easy and fun to help
students remember their vocabulary and practice their vocabulary.
b. The Learning Material Using the TPR Method
The material used by the writer in teaching vocabulary to grade 4 students of
MI Robayan is based on the learning plan (RPP). The material is about public places.
This material is taken from 4th grade English LKS books and from internet. The
writer also combines picture cards related to public places and a song titled "where
are you going?" To help teaching public places material.
c. The Implementation of Teaching and Learning Process Using the TPR Method
In the teaching and learning process there are three activities, opening activity,
main activity, and closing activity. At the opening activity, the writer said greeted like
"good morning and how are you today?" many students were silent and did not
understand how to respond. So the writer taught the response from the greeting and
explained what the purpose of today's learning and the material to be taught.
At the main activity, the writer began to explain about public places. The writer
showed pictures related to public places, such as mosque, market, library, airport and
so on. The students began to identify the pictures with asking them to paste and write
down the name of the image in bahasa on the board. After all the pictures were pasted,
the writer began playing a song "where are you going?.” While listening, the writer
wrote the lyrics of the song on the board. Students began enjoy listening to the song
and some of the students immediately followed the lyrics they heard even though they
did not know the meaning of the song. The writer said "sing with me" then the
students and the writer sang Where Are You Going. The students also followed the
words requested by the writer. After singing together, they memorized the lyrics of
the song more and more. The writer began to identify the meaning of “Where Are
You Going?” song which contains some public places and matches them with pictures
and meanings that students have written on the board. The writer also gave an
example of how to read it, such as how to read the word library "follow me,
LIBRARY" Students follow what was said by the writer. From there students began
to understand and remember the vocabulary given.
In implementing the TPR method, besides asking students to sing together, the
writer also gave several orders such as "walk to the market" so students would walk
 towards the market image and match the paper named “market” with the “market”
image. After that, students must read aloud the name of the place in the paper that is
attached to it. Other commands like "run to the airport," "sit down to the library,"
"point to the hospital" and so on.
In the closing activity, the writer and students together concluded the learning
that day, and the writer closed the study by saying "thank you and see you" and
students responded it.
d. The Teacher’s Role
Harmer in Febriyanti (2016, p. 77) there are many roles of teachers in teaching,
such as controller, prompter, organizer, tutor, and model. The writer found several
teacher roles. The teacher as a controller had a role in managing all teaching and
learning activities, from the opening activity to the closing activity. The teacher as a
prompter to direct students in learning activities, the teacher gave material to students.
The teacher as an organizer had the responsibility to organize his students in their
classroom activities and make instructions and receive feedback from students, this
was in accordance with the concept of TPR method. Teachers became a tutor helping
students when they had difficulty understanding in the material and guide them
kindly, the teacher here always asked them if there were any difficulties and some
students understood the material presented. The teacher also became a model and
example for students by practicing it in front of the class.
e. The Students’ Roles
Based on the results of observations, the writer found the role of students in
learning activities using the TPR method, namely students as member, listener, and
performer. Students as members must be active in classroom learning activities and
follow the instructions given by the teacher. Students as listeners were listening to
every material given by the teacher and understanding the material given. Students as
performers were receiving instructions from the teacher and students practicing them
with the physical movement.
The Responses from Students and Teacher after Using Total Physical Response
Method
Based on data from observations during learning using the TPR method, the writer
found that there were some students during learning activities who still did not understand
the commands given and they asked to their friends, such as when the writer asked them
to run, they walked instead, it meant there were students who lacked focus when the
writer gives instructions to them. But the writer also found several benefits from the
teaching and learning process using this TPR method. The TPR method can make it easier
for students to understand and remember vocabularies. Can be seen from some students
easily responsive and immediately understand when the writer asked them to match the
name of public places with pictures, students were also confident when reading the place
names on the paper. Dias, one of the students who interviewed, said that it was easier for
her to understand the names of public places when she listened to a song and identified
the image by taking action.
The TPR method makes learning fun and students look enthusiastic and enjoy
during learning. For example, when the teacher and students both sang Where Are You
Going and asked students to run towards the market image, sometimes their friends would
join in enlivening the orders so that the classroom atmosphere was more pleasant.
Supported by the opinion of a student in grade 4, said that she preferred learning using
the TPR method rather than learning as usual because it was more enjoyable especially
when accompanied by songs and games.
The TPR method can also reduce students' stress and make them motivated in
learning English. The writer found this fact from the results of interviews with several
students, one of them was Lulu’. She claimed previously did not like English language
lessons because it was difficult and many assignments were given by the teacher, but
after attending the TPR method, Lulu’ and some students started interested in English
and they claimed to be motivated to learn more about English.
However, by applying this TPR method, besides to students having to do a
command with a physical movement but also accompanied by verbally. This is very
appropriate so that they do not only know the names of public places but also can get
used to saying the names of these public places properly and correctly. But there are some
disadvantages from the results of applying this method. The writer saw that not all
material would be suitable using the TPR method. There was some material about public
places that had not been delivered because the writer's focus was only on vocabulary at
that time. The English teacher at MI Robayan said this method was very interesting to
apply to the children but TPR cannot be applied to all materials, so he suggested that
teachers who would use the TPR method should be good at choosing suitable materials
and he added that this method would be more suitable if applied to children in grades 3
or below this level.

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